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If you missed our first seed swaps, don’t worry! Just head over to northeast Seattle on Saturday, March 30 for “Hands On! A Community Skills Share-Fair.” We’ll be there with the seeds from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The free Skills Fair is presented by Sustainable Northeast Seattle, NE Seattle Tool Library and Meadowbrook Community Center and is being held at the center, 10517 35th Ave NE, Seattle. It offers an amazing array of DIY tips and skill-building workshops running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

But that’s not all – far from it. Imagine yourself learning emergency toilet repair or “stop the bleed” techniques. If you know those things, how about simple bike repair, binding a book, or the basics of electrical wiring, pipe soldering and drywall repair.

As if that isn’t enough, there will be a lunch speaker talking about the Beacon Food Forest and buffet taco bar.

Shaking their future vegetable garden out of glass jars laid out under headings like “Brassicas” and “Roots,” gardeners palmed new varieties and puzzled over plants they hadn’t yet tried. Handfuls of treasures were shared in the first Seed Swap of 2019 held by the King County Seed Lending Library on Saturday, Feb. 2. More than 100 people attended.

Many brought seeds and traded knowledge. Non-profit groups , including Tilth Alliance, P-Patch and the Seattle Tree Fruit Society, shared information at tables and in workshops.

KUOW’s reporter Ruby de Luna stopped by and recorded some interviews with coordinator Bill Thorness and some attendees for a very nice piece that aired on the public radio station on Tuesday, Feb. 5. Read and listen to it here.

Sprout some new ideas for your edible garden in January! Come to the annual Seed Swaps presented by our King County Seed Lending Library branches.

Along with seeds of favorite vegetables, you will find enthusiastic fellow gardeners to share their best varieties. Many attendees at last year’s swap brought their own seeds.

Seed Swaps will be Saturday, Feb. 2 in Northwest Seattle and Snoqualmie Valley, and Saturday, Feb. 9 in Northeast Seattle and Feb. 24 in West Seattle. (See details on our Events page.)

At the swap, stick around to learn about both ends of the gardening year. There will be short workshops on seed starting and seed saving. If you save your own, you can make a deposit to the library’s seed bank at next year’s swap.

Bring your edible garden seed to share. It can be commercial or home-grown seed, but please follow these guidelines:

Share only seeds of edible plants that your fellow gardeners would grow from seed, such as annual vegetables, herbs and edible flowers.

If donating packaged seed, it should be organic or open-pollinated or heirloom.

If donating home-saved seed, please clean it off the stems or stalks and bring only the seed.

You can clean your seed at the swap. We will have screens and buckets available.

All shared seed should be fresh, within three years of purchase or saving.

Please label all donations with seed type, variety if known, and year it was grown/saved.

The Seed Swaps are free and open to all; bringing seed is not required.

The King County Seed Lending Library has five locations around the county, all operated by volunteers and supported solely by donations.

You may have noticed a lovely new sunflower gracing the pages of this website and our Facebook page. It is the centerpiece of our new logo, created by JoEllen Wang of Tiny Beast Design.

All of us at the King County Seed Lending Library want to give a big thanks to JoEllen for her lovely design and hard work creating it. Thanks also to Krista Staudacher, our West Seattle coordinator, who worked closely with JoEllen to make it happen.

JoEllen is a West Seattle architect who offers a full range of services to commercial and residential clients.

This is the third logo for the King County Seed Lending Library. Our image has evolved from a dandelion seedhead to an umbel of parsley seeds. The sunflower was chosen for its cheeriness and abundant edible seeds.

JoEllen also provided us with a color palette and a version of the logo to use on stamps, which will be used to label envelopes. The stamp will premiere at our annual Seed Swap, coming up next January.

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Welcome!

We are a community of seed savers and sharers located in the Seattle area. We support our bioregional seed companies, educate gardeners about seed-saving, and host community seed events. Enjoy your visit!